Five Famous Flyers

Name__________________________

Benjamin Franklin

1. In June of __________ Benjamin Franklin began to study the atmosphere with kites.

2. The memorable demonstrated experiment in __________ did prove that lightning is electricity.

3. Franklin waited until there was a storm and then proceeded to fly his kite made of __________.

4. __________, the use of kites to pull boats, carriages, _________, and other objects is one of their earliest applications.

5. During the winter Franklin also used kites to pull him along while ______ __________.
 
 

Homan Walsh

1. In __________ in what is now known as the city of __________ ______, it was decided that a bridge spanning the great gorge would be a big boost to the local economy.

2. A lot of people attempted to fly a kite across the gorge in order to have that very important first line, but only ___________ _________ succeeded.

3. Homan Walsh was only __________ years old.

4. His kite's name was the "__________".

5. After the success of the goal, Homan Walsh was awarded a cash prize of __________ dollars.
 
 

Alexander Graham Bell

1. The early years of the 20th Century were a golden era of experiments with three-dimensional rigid kites, such as the __________ kite and the __________ kite.

2. Most of the experiments were looking for a design that would function as a __________ _____________.
 

3. One of the researchers was Alexander Graham Bell, who had already invented the __________.

4. He developed the ______________ kite.

5. When the winds were light, and he needed help flying a giant kite, he often used __________ to tow the kite into the air.
 
 

Wright Brothers

1. ______________ and _____________ Wright were credited with the invention of the airplane in the year ___________.

2. Early experiments of the Wright brothers involved studying ___________ and other birds.

3. While they were experimenting, Lawrence Hargrave was devising the first box kite in __________.

4. One day, while flying box kites at __________ __________, the brothers discovered that the kites had enough lift to lift a man off of the ground.

5. In August of 1899, they built a biplane kite, also known as a __________ __________.\
 
 

Paul Garber

1. Kites have been used for ____________ purposes for thousands of years.

2. Garber had been flying kites since he was __________ years old.

3. The Garber ___________ Kite was credited with saving an aircraft carrier.

4. Garber used winged, triangular box kites called __________ kites to pass important papers from ship to aircraft.

5. Thanks to Paul Garber, there is  the Smithsonian Institution Kite Festival each spring at the ___________________ ___________________.